Blitz Off
by Adarian Dreamer
Summary: Set a year after X-2, Wakka and Tidus get second chances to win a blitzball cup, but when they beat the Fangs, Kimahri seeks revenge. The hilarity starts in C. 3.
1. Passion of a Player

Blitz Off  
  
by Adarian Dreamer  
  
Prologue: From the author of Metal Gear Hollow, Adarian Dreamer brings you a fanfic that focuses on the blitzball of Spira. This takes place one year after X-2 where everything is all good, but a dream of winning the Crystal Cup still lurks in the back of Tidus's and Wakka's minds. When, the Luca Goers go on strike, that dream may just become a reality. Alot of this fanfic is borrowed from a football movie called The Replacements.  
  
Chapter One: The Passion of a Player  
  
Wakka's new way of life isn't exactly adventurous or exciting. He's now a full-time father and a retired blitzers. One day, he was doing his everyday chores and was fishing underwater when he happened to stumble upon something.  
  
"A blitzball!" said Wakka happily as he picked up the white and blue sphere.  
  
Wakka did a nice sphere shot with it and celebrated as if he had just scored in a real game.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"The Luca Goers are down 3-2 to the Kilika Beasts with just seconds left in the Spira League Finals. Here comes Bickson on a break away to tie the game! It looks like a collision between him and the Kilika goalkeeper- wait, no, he slides away and the Goers lose it! Bickson just went for a give-up slide," said Jimma, the blitzball commentator disappointedly.  
  
Bickson and the rest of the Luca Goers were being interviewed in the locker room.  
  
"Why did you slide?" asked a reporter.  
  
"Look," explained Bickson, "I know a million gil a season sounds like a lot of money, but I got to pay 5% to my agent, I got insurance, support, taxes, and well, we're on strike now until we get our salaries doubled."  
  
"Well, there you have it," commentated Bobba, the other commentator, "it's all about money."  
  
Yuna, who was the new owner of the Luca Goers, was really disappointed by this. The Crystal Cup would start next week, so she knew she had to organize a team willing to play by then.  
  
She already knew who she needed as the new coach.  
  
Wakka had just returned from fishing to greet his wife, Lulu, when she told him he had a visitor.  
  
"Yuna!" Wakka exclaimed, "long time, no see, ya?"  
  
"Yes, it has been a while, Wakka," Yuna said smiling.  
  
"What brings you to Besaid? We don't even have a blitzball team here anymore."  
  
"Well, that is actually the reason. Did you hear about the Goer strike?"  
  
"No, what happened?"  
  
"The Goers went on strike, demanding more money, leaving me without a team to enter the Crystal Cup. Within a week, we need to organize a new team, and I am making you the coach and captain."  
  
"Me? play blitzball again?" Wakka nearly burst in joy.  
  
"We still have to recruit a quick team, though. You can bring Datto, Jassu, Letty, Botta, and Keepa with you, but I haven't seen Tidus in months."  
  
"That kid has a tendency to disappear alot, ya? Don't worry, I'll find him," said Wakka as he set out on his new quest.  
  
Meanwhile, in the Kilika coast, a young blonde ex-blitzer was finishing up a day of docking ships when he saw something shiny in the water. Upon diving to pick it up, he realized it was a piece of the Jecht Memorial Cup Finalist Trophy he had won at Zanarkand. The old time blitzer picked it up but was hit with a blitzball on the head. He saw a familiar face when he looked up.  
  
"The first time we met, you deflected it and did a sphere shot with it," said Wakka with a smile.  
  
"Wakka! A blitzball! Don't tell me you're playing again!" Tidus said excitedly.  
  
"I am, and in fact, I want you to be on my team, too," said Wakka as he tossed Tidus a Spira newspaper, "the Luca Goers went on strike, and we get to take their place."  
  
NARRATOR: Will Wakka and Tidus and the Aurochs finally win the Crystal Cup or will their dreams be crushed again? Find out in the next chapter.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED... 


	2. A Second Chance

Chapter Two: A Second Chance  
  
Tidus looked at the Spira newspaper to see that the world's top team had gone on strike.  
  
"What do you say, Tidus. We need a forward like you," said Wakka with a smile.  
  
"That sounds great, Wakka, but I'm retired," Tidus said as he walked back into the dock, tying another shipping to a pole.  
  
"Come on, this is a second chance to play blitzball. It would better than sitting around here everyday doing nothing, ya?"  
  
"I like it here, Wakka. It's quiet, nothing bothers me. Besides, I don't want what happened three years to ever happen again."  
  
"A hell of a game that championship game was. What did we lose to the Goers by? 4 goals?"  
  
"That would be 5."  
  
Wakka shook his head, "You know a game like that really sticks with you. It's hard to shake it off."  
  
"I got three concussions to prove it," Tidus said holding his head.  
  
"I'll tell you what, if you want to give this a shot, come on by Luca Stadium where we will be training. I'll look for you," said Wakka as he jumped back into a boat headed toward Luca.  
  
Tidus looked on into the horizon. He wondered if this really was what he had been hoping for his whole life.  
  
A few hours later in Luca, Wakka had arrived and had brought the Aurochs with him.  
  
"Wakka! You're late," said Yuna half-jokingly, "oh, where's Tidus?"  
  
"I couldn't really convince him to come. It seems like he's still stinging from our loss 3 years ago, ya?"  
  
"Oh, I see."  
  
"Hey, don't worry about, I'm sure he'll be here any minute, ya?" said Wakka as he walked up to the rest of his team, "let's start running drills. The first thing we need to polish up on is passing. Letty, Botta, Datto, and Jassu, go downfield."  
  
"Cap'n!" Botta, Datto, Letty, and Jassu all said in unison as they ran downfield to catch Wakka's long pass. Botta dived for it but couldn't reach it and hit his nose on the ground.  
  
"Are you alright, brudda?" Datto asked worriedly.  
  
"Hey, Yuna, you got a potion or something?" asked Wakka.  
  
"I'm on it," Yuna responded running toward Botta.  
  
"Hey, cap'n, we're in business now," Letty said pointing behind Wakka.  
  
Wakka turned around to see a familar face.  
  
"Tidus! You're late," Wakka said as he greeted Tidus with a handshake.  
  
"Traffic," Tidus said, making an excuse.  
  
"We're practicing passes. Still got an arm?" asked Wakka tossing Tidus a blitzball.  
  
"Hey, Tidus!" Datto said, calling for the ball.  
  
Tidus nodded and pointed toward Datto and Botta, who had just gotten up.  
  
"Go!" yelled Wakka as he blew his whistle. Datto and Botta immediately ran down the field.  
  
Tidus hurled the ball down the field, making a perfect pass. It was headed for Botta and it looked he would catch it when all of the sudden...  
  
Keepa suddenly stepped right in front of Botta and Botta ran straight into him. The big Keepa didn't move an inch, but Botta fell flat on his back.  
  
"That's gonna leave a mark," Tidus said laughing.  
  
"Ouch, maybe we should do this in the water." 


	3. Let's Play Some Blitzball

Chapter Three: Let's Play Some Blitzball  
  
"Let's play some blitzball!" Wakka ordered as he jumped in the Luca stadium sphere pool.  
  
Tidus and the rest of the Aurochs, who were now Goers, followed him.  
  
The scrimmage started off as Wakka grabbed the blitz off and made a long pass to Datto who threw in a goal past Keepa.  
  
Tidus grabbed the next blitzoff and swam down the field until only Botta was blocking him. Tidus made a Jecht shot off the goalpost and Botta's face knocking him out.  
  
"Whoops," Tidus said putting his hand behind his head.  
  
"Uh, I guess, that's for it practice," Wakka said nervously as the other Aurochs helped an unconscious Botta out of the sphere pool.  
  
"Well, how are we going to enter the Crystal Cup Semifinals? Don't they already have four teams?" Tidus asked.  
  
"This morning, I got the Spira League officials to agree to let us play the Ronso Fangs in a qualifier match for the tournament. The Fangs obviously last their best player in the strike, so now they're last place, and I think we can beat them," Wakka responded.  
  
"Really? I'm sure Kimahri will be pissed off about that," said Tidus laughing and putting his hand behind his head, "say how are those guys, anyway? I haven't seen them in almost a year."  
  
"Yeah, let's go check them out. I hear Rikku is quite the blitzball fan now. I also heard that Kimahri has blitzball gambling problems as well though," Wakka explained.  
  
"Hmm, I wonder if he's betting against us?" said Tidus worriedly.  
  
Tidus and Wakka shook their heads and left the stadium heading for downtown Luca.  
  
Hiding behind a corner was Kimahri who was watching the conversation.  
  
"Tidus and Wakka make fun of Fangs. Kimahri sabotage match. Kimahri give Tidus and Wakka ex-lax."  
  
Narrator: Will Kimahri's dastardly plan work? Will the new Luca Goers (which now have the Besaid Aurochs players on them) be able to overcome this and defeat the Ronso Fangs? Find out in Chapter 4: Judgment Day. 


	4. Judgment Day

Chapter Four: Judgment Day  
  
"You mean Tidus is really going to be on our team?" Rikku asked excitedly to Yuna.  
  
"Yes, he will be our left forward," answered Yuna, "he'll be at the team banquet tonight."  
  
"I can't wait to see him again!" Rikku said running around Yuna hyperly.  
  
Later that night, the banquet in Luca was about to start, and the new Luca Goers were setting everything up.  
  
"Well, if we win, we're in the Crystal Cup finals," Tidus said clenching a fist and accidentally knocking out Botta by swinging it out.  
  
"Yeah, but the Fangs will be tough," Letty responded.  
  
A few moments later, Tidus suddenly had someone throw her arms around him.  
  
"Tidus!" Yuna said giving him a big hug.  
  
"Yuna! Rikku! How've you been?" Tidus asked cheerfully.  
  
"Oh, pretty good, you know?" answered Rikku.  
  
"Hey, enough mushy stuff, brudda. We have a game tomorrow," Wakka intervened, ruining Tidus's moment.  
  
"Hey, Wakka, have you ever been venom tackled before?" Tidus whispered angrily under his breath.  
  
"What was that?" Wakka asked suspiciously at Tidus.  
  
"Uh, I meant, have you come up with our gameplan for the game?"  
  
"Yeah, of course. Check this out," Wakka said as he went over to the blackboard and flipped it over revealing scribbled X's and O's.  
  
"Uh, have you been playing tic-tac-toe?" Rikku asked confused.  
  
"No! This is my awesome new play," Wakka said harshly, "okay, so the left forward gets the ball then he fakes to his left, no he fakes to his right, no he pretends to fake, he fakes to fake-"  
  
"Okay, we get the picture!" Tidus interrupted, "you know that will never work against the Fangs, right?"  
  
"Yeah, I think we're screwed, brudda."  
  
"Well, if I can just think of a gameplan that uses our superior speed to our advantage."  
  
"Leave it to me," Wakka reassured Tidus.  
  
"Yeah right," Tidus laughed, "the last time I did that, we didn't win anything at the Crystal Cup."  
  
"Well, we won this potion," Wakka said pointing to a potion shaped bottle with a "My First Magical Potion Play Set" label on it full of Juicey Juice, "besides, you can't win every game, you know."  
  
Tidus shuddered. "Look, Wakka, I respect the fact that our goal is to do our best every game, but is this really doing our best?"  
  
"Well, that would depend on your definition of the word 'is,'" Wakka replied with an Arkansas accent.  
  
"Okay...?" Tidus shook his head.  
  
"Well, brudda, the way I see it is that the world is a sphere pool and we're the light in it."  
  
"Dude.......that line sucked," Tidus replied annoyed.  
  
"Uh, it's getting late. Rikku and I better go. Good luck tomorrow," Yuna said, getting up and ready to leave.  
  
Just then, Kimahri burst through the door.  
  
"Woah, Kimahri, what are you doing here?" asked Tidus.  
  
"Kimahri bring Powerade for Aurochs. Kimahri new Aurochs waterboy."  
  
"Thanks, brudda," Wakka replied with grattitude.  
  
As Kimahri left, Botta and Keepa decided to drink some of it.  
  
"Wow, Powerade, I haven't drinken it in a long time," said Botta gulping down a bottle.  
  
"That's odd, I don't remembering it tasting like .... ah, oh well," Keepa said as he grabbed a twinkie and shoved it down his throat.  
  
"Hey, save some for tomorrow, ya?" Wakka requested.  
  
"Yes, cap'n," Botta said putting the bottle down.  
  
Meanwhile, Tidus, Letty, Jassu, and Datto were talking in another room.  
  
"So, we have 7 players but of course only 6 can play. I wonder who's on the bench?" Letty asked the other blitzers.  
  
"Well, I know Wakka's the captain, Tidus is our best forward, and Keepa is the fattest goalkeeper in the league so I guess it's down to me, Letty, Jassu, or Botta," Datto responded.  
  
"It's got to be, Botta. I mean he has a million bandages on his nose from being hit by Jecht shots," Tidus said laughing.  
  
"Did you know how Wakka became the captain of the Aurochs?" Jassu asked a little more serious.  
  
"How did he, anyway?" asked Tidus.  
  
"Well, before he was captain, Chappu was our captain and star player. When Chappu unfortunately died, he left in his will that whoever was the tallest would be the new captain," Jassu explained.  
  
"And of course, I was five feet, eleven inches while Wakka was five feet, ten inches, and Wakka knew he was shorter than me, so he kept on stalling the captain inaugeration," Datto chimed in.  
  
"So how did Wakka become captain?"  
  
"Wakka grew his hair out to make it stand it giving him the needed height, so now, he's the captain!" Datto said in a fit.  
  
"...Okay...?" Tidus scratched the back of his head confused.  
  
"The point is Wakka ruined my dreams," Datto complained.  
  
"Tell me about it, I was this close with a threesome between me, Yuna, and Rikku, when Wakka interupted," Tidus muttered to himself.  
  
"What was that?" Letty asked.  
  
"Err...nothing."  
  
"Well, now, we suck really bad ever since he became our new captain. Who cares if his hair sticks up like weed whacker?" Datto said softly like he was a killer telling his dark past.  
  
"You got something caught in your throat?" Jassu asked annoyed.  
  
"Oh, sorry, dramatic effect."  
  
"...Yeah... anyway, you see, Cap'n Wakka promised Chappu that he would lead the Aurochs to the Crystal Cup before he retired, because the will said the new captain has to do that since the Aurochs never have, and at 26 years of age now, this is probably Wakka's last chance," Letty explained.  
  
"I see Wakka has some demons of his own he's dealing with," Tidus said as he got up, "Come on, it's late. We need some rest for tomorrow. If we beat the Fangs, we're in the semifinals." 


	5. The New Goers

Chapter Five: The New Goers  
  
The team woke up early the next morning. Wakka, Botta, Keepa, Letty, Jassu, and Datto were already up, discussing blitzball in the living room when Tidus walked in.  
  
"Hey, sleepy head! Our game is in a few hours," Wakka told Tidus.  
  
"I see," Tidus said, "well, today, the Aurochs are going to win."  
  
"We're the Luca Goers now, Tidus, remember that the Besaid Aurochs don't exist anymore," Datto told him.  
  
"Pretty ironic if you think about it," Wakka commented.  
  
"So, do you have the starting line-up, cap'n?" Botta asked leaning over Wakka's shoulder.  
  
"Well, here it is. Our left striker will be Tidus, I will be the right striker, captain, and set pieces player, Datto will be the midfielder, Letty will be the left defender, Jassu will be the right defender, and Keepa will be the goalkeeper," Wakka informed.  
  
"Crap! I'm on the bench again!" Botta complained.  
  
"Sucks for you," Keepa said, in between munching on another twinkie.  
  
"Well, I guess it's time to go to the stadium," Tidus told them getting up.  
  
"I haven't been to downtown Luca in a long time, I wonder what's it like now," Datto said walking toward Tidus.  
  
"It's more like the old city of Zanarkand, ya?" Wakka told Tidus.  
  
"Really? Let's go!" Tidus exclaimed excitedly as he ran out the door.  
  
The others quickly followed Tidus as they headed for Luca Stadium. As they walk from their house to downtown Luca, they are greeted by dozens of blitzball fans.  
  
"Hey, look, I guess they're coming up to congratulate us," said Tidus as he stopped in front of the fans.  
  
"Scabs! Get them!" yelled a hostile fan.  
  
"Uh, something tells me, they don't want our autograph," Datto said worriedly.  
  
"Let's get the hell out of here, ya?!" Wakka said as he and the rest of the new Goers ran into the stadium entrance and locked the door behind them.  
  
"I guess they don't have much faith in us to win the Crystal Cup," said Tidus.  
  
"That's putting it lightly," commented Jassu, "they're trying to kill us, so at least the Goers would lose by default without any players instead of how many they think we'll lose by."  
  
"Well, I hope they don't try to throw stuff into the sphere pool to mess up," Letty complained.  
  
"Well, enough, standing around, the Ronso Fangs are already on their side of the sphere pool practicing, and the fans will be coming in soon, so we had better get out of the entrance," Wakka told them.  
  
The Goers quickly warmed up on their side of the pool, exchanging negative gestures with the Ronso Fangs until the referee signalled for the teams to enter their locker room for the final preparations. It was then that the Spira television broadcast began.  
  
"Well, we're just moments away from the blitz off of this important Crystal Cup quarterfinal match between the new Luca Goers and the Ronso Fangs," the announcer said.  
  
"Yes, all eyes will be on this Luca replacement. Their players include former blitzball flunk-outs Tidus and Wakka. They were once all-stars, but they have not been heard of in the blitzball world since their disastrious showing the Crystal Cup three years ago," said the color commentator.  
  
"It's definately a good chance for redemptions for both teams. The Ronso Fangs really need a win here to get out of the Spira League cellar. You know, it's games like these that put tears in my eyes."  
  
"Tears?" the color commentator looked at him like he was crazy.  
  
"Yeah, here it comes," said the announcer as he reached for his cup of water which was just replaced by some boiling hot coffee and sprinkled some into his eyes, "AHHH!!! MY EYES!!! IT BURNS!!!!"  
  
Everyone across Spira who was watching the broadcast sweatdrops. Meanwhile, back in the Goers locker room.  
  
"This is it, boys. We're taking the field as the Luca Goers," Wakka told his team.  
  
Moments later, Yuna and Rikku walk in the locker room.  
  
"Hi, Yuna," Tidus greeted weakly.  
  
"Hi, Tidus. Everyone, this is our first match. Let's go out there and represent Luca, well," Yuna informed them.  
  
"And Besaid!" Rikku said cheerfully.  
  
"Yeah!" the Goers cheered.  
  
"For cap'n Wakka!" Datto said, earning cheers from the others.  
  
"For twinkies!" Keepa threw in, earning cheers from the others.  
  
"For myself!" Botta yelled, earning a punch in the nose from Wakka.  
  
The announcer had announced ten minutes until the blitz off. The Goers then quickly rushed into the sphere pool. Botta took a seat in the Goers's bench area by the pool as Yuna and Rikku headed up into a VIP press box.  
  
"Hey, you want to hear something weird?" the color commentator said on the broadcast.  
  
"What's that?" the announcer said.  
  
"I can easily remember all the Besaid Aurochs stats from three years ago, because they're all ZERO!!!" the color commentator said as he burst out laughing.  
  
The blitz off went up and both Wakka and the Ronso captain went up for the ball. 


End file.
